New neighbors

Today I'm thinking about a party we are having this afternoon on my floor, so that we new neighbors can get to know each other.  When our building was completed recently, new people started moving in.  That includes people who have been on the waiting list for years to get into these apartments.  I have introduced myself to some of the people on my floor, and I'm ready to sit down to chat as I learn more about them.  The photo above shows our new building under construction.

Today is our day, book lovers!

How shall we celebrate?  Well, we could all read books!

Two of my unread books

I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids: Reinventing Modern Motherhood ~ by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile, 2007, advice, 175 pages

Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile spoke to mothers of every stripe — working, stay-at-home, part-time — and found a surprisingly similar trend in their interviews.  After enthusing about her lucky life for twenty minutes, a mother would then break down and admit that her child's first word was "Shrek."  As one mom put it, "Am I happy?  The word that describes me best is challenged."  This book uncovers the guilty secrets of moms today in their own words, and it offers real solutions so that mothers can step out of the madness and learn to love motherhood.

When this book was published, I was already a grandmother and soon became a great-grandmother.  Maybe I found this book in the free bin of discarded books that was outside my bookstore — or it was on sale  — or the title intrigued me.

On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style ~ by Matthew Fox, 1976, spirituality, xxxiv + 156 = 190 pages

This book attempts to answer the question of how Americans can develop our capacities to grow into life within the matrix of American culture.  Exploring the psychological and social response which is prayer, the author concludes that the calling to mysticism (experienced as enjoyment of life) and prophecy (experienced as the fight to share life and criticize its enemies) make up adult spirituality.

Would it have been a novel or a short story?

This sentence is from the second paragraph of the story I mentioned yesterday HERE:

"I've become a scatterbrained old lady."

The four single-spaced pages are a draft of a story I was writing about what it's like to be old.  I named it "Lilli's Letter."  On the third page I wrote:

"Nothing is for always and forever, Lilli thought.  Change is the only constant there is, so maybe I should think of my life in terms of liminality, of always being on the threshold of something else, something different and not necessarily what I would want."

Word of the Day

lim·i·nal / adjective

1.  occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.  Example:  "I was in the liminal space between past and present."

2.  relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.  Example:  "That liminal period is when a child is old enough to begin following basic rules, but is still too young to do so consistently."

I also wrote about the word "liminal" last year, HERE.  Hmm, last Saturday (HERE) I also wrote about wearing purple as an old lady.  Maybe I'm feeling my 83-year-old age?

Let's start over ~ no more "weekly roundup"

Altruistic August

Today (Sunday, August 6th) encourages us to "Smile and be friendly to the people you see today."  Click on the calendar to enlarge it and see each day's suggested activity.

Yoga for Every Body ~ by Paul Harvey, 2001, exercise, 144 pages

From the back:  "Enhance your health!  Discover how simple it is to make yoga part of your life and reap the rewards of better posture, good muscle tone, more flexibility, a calm and relaxed mind, increased energy levels, and improved sleep.  And you won't need to buy special clothes or equipment.  With this comprehensive guide you can start feeling better today."

I saw this book on the counter of the Crown Center library, so I checked it out.  It's divided into eight parts:

1. Yoga in your life
2. Starting practice
3. Moving further
4. Growing in confidence
5. Stronger in mind, body, and breath
6. Yoga in your day
7. Yoga for health, fitness, and wellness
8. Taking yoga further

July 2023 was the hottest month in 120,000 years, according to THIS article.  Records have been kept for only about 100 years, but things like ocean sediments, coral reefs, and air trapped in polar ice cores tell scientists the longer story.  Most of us can vouch for the miserable heat this summer, that's for sure!

Write Now!  That's the title I put on a notebook I found on a top bookshelf since my move.  The label on the spine shows this little yellow pencil wearing sunglasses.  Inside the notebook are copies of stories I wrote and emails from the Daytime Writers group I was a part of in 2008.  Fascinating, especially my notes for a story I entitled "Lilli's Letter" with 1,973 words.  Read this first sentence and tell me if you'd keep reading:

"When she ran the red light, Lilli was trying to remember what else was on her to-do list."

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

hosts The Sunday Salon.

Saturday stuff

This gigantic ancient Perucetus colossus whale, depicted here by an artist, was possibly the heaviest animal that's ever lived on earth.  That would be two or three times as heavy as the modern blue whale.  It lived about 39 million years ago, and its estimated weight is 375 tons, which is about as heavy as 35 school buses. — USA Today

Beginning ~ with a note

The Last Thing He Told Me ~ by Laura Dave, 2021, thriller, 320 pages

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year:  Protect her.  Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers — Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey.  Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child.  Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a U.S. marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was.  And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity — and why he really disappeared.  Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth.  But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future — one neither of them could have anticipated.  (This is also library loot, which is delivered every three weeks to seniors unable to visit the library due to disability, age, illness, injury, or other mobility problems.)

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays